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The clown is dead, long live the clowns

Robbie Armstrong

August 21 2016, 12:01am, The Sunday Times

Pss Pss

★★★★★

Admittedly, clowning would not be the first choice for most when it comes to the Fringe. But where Compagnia Baccalà’s Pss Pss is concerned, forget the red noses. Instead, the Swiss-Sicilian duo take inspiration from the silent-film era. Indeed, it is the bemused facial expressions and razor-sharp timing that make the show so utterly enthralling.

For the first 10 minutes, the pair rely on little other than a few apples and the ill-fitting clothes on their backs to introduce the audience to their awkward and amusing back and forth.

A wonky-pigtailed Camilla Pessi and Chaplinesque Simone Fassari alternately vie for each other’s attention in near silence for over an hour, using clever clownery, hyperbolic gesticulation and no small number of motley props…

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